Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Reduces Stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its stake in NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE - Free Report) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,795,686 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 472,874 shares during the period. NextEra Energy comprises 0.8% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.48% of NextEra Energy worth $702,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NEE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NextEra Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,484,197,000. Boston Partners purchased a new position in shares of NextEra Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $244,169,000. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of NextEra Energy by 49.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 9,543,552 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $676,008,000 after acquiring an additional 3,172,405 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 205,297,225 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,717,758,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in NextEra Energy by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,833,725 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $634,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525,436 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.72% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NEE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $89.00 target price on shares of NextEra Energy in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on NextEra Energy from $81.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NextEra Energy from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextEra Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $85.92.

Insider Activity at NextEra Energy

In other NextEra Energy news, CAO James Michael May sold 2,383 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.09, for a total transaction of $162,258.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,867,504.43. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NextEra Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

NEE stock traded up $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.33. 3,203,287 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,590,393. The stock has a market cap of $146.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.47 and a quick ratio of 0.38. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.31 and a 1 year high of $86.10. The firm's 50 day moving average is $70.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.99.

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 28.06% and a return on equity of 11.85%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

NextEra Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.5665 per share. This is an increase from NextEra Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. NextEra Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.06%.

NextEra Energy Profile

NextEra Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear,natural gas, and other clean energy. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets.